Dropbox's iOS 8 app adds support for Touch ID

Dropbox's iOS 8 app adds support for Touch ID

Edgar Alvarez

Engadget

Not to be outdone by Microsoft's recent refresh of OneDrive, Dropbox has now made its iOS app compatible with Apple's fingerprint-scanning technology, Touch ID, as well. You'll need iOS 8 in order for the feature to work, but chances are you're already running the latest and greatest software from Apple anyway. Aside from adding the ability to unlock the application by way of Touch ID, Dropbox also updated it to support the bigger screens of the iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus -- something that owners of Apple's newest smartphones will definitely appreciate. Now someone tell Google to hurry and do the same for Drive.
Source: Dropbox

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Apple wants all iOS apps to use 64-bit code starting in February

Apple wants all iOS apps to use 64-bit code starting in February

Jon Fingas

Engadget

Apple may have only introduced 64-bit computing to iPhones and iPads a little over a year ago, but it's already preparing for the day when legacy 32-bit code is gone for good. The Cupertino crew is now telling developers that their iOS apps must include 64-bit support from February 1st onward. While the company won't kick out existing titles, both new apps and updated releases will have to make the switch. Theoretically, this is easy -- developers just have to build apps using the most recent tools and standard settings.
The switch could have a meaningful impact on the apps you use. At the least, it should reduce the need for iOS to juggle both 32- and 64-bit code. That's good for performance, whether or not there are meaningful upgrades to the apps themselves. The move may also spur more developers to fine-tune their apps for the A7 and A8 chips in recent iOS gear -- even if they don't need to use higher-precision 64-bit math, that could still lead to faster games, media players and other demanding titles. It'll likely take much longer for Apple to drop 32-bit support altogether, but the ball is clearly rolling on that transition.Source: Apple Developer

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Audi RS 7 proves it needs no driver to go racing

Audi RS 7 proves it needs no driver to go racing

Mariella Moon

Engadget 

Audi's execs must have toasted to their autonomous car's success this weekend, because the self-driving RS 7 has successfully conquered the Hockenheimring racing circuit in Germany. While the company's announcement doesn't get into specifics, it says the modified sedan finished each lap in just over two minutes, close to the original two minutes and 10 seconds estimate. It doesn't confirm a top speed either, but the commentator in the video after the break says the car reached 137mph, driving the optimal trajectory you'd expect a top racer to take. As we've mentioned before, the automated RS 7 is completely driverless and uses GPS and photos taken by a 3D imaging camera to track its position down to 1 to 2 centimeters -- something it's obviously executed well during the Hockenheimring stunt.
The car that drove around the circuit, though, is just one of Audi's self-driving prototypes named Bobby after race car driver Bobby Unser. There's another one called AJ (named after AJ Foyt), which raced againstSlashgear's editor-in-chief before the event. According to Slashgear, engineers can dial down the car's performance, depending on weather or track conditions. At 86 percent performance driving on a wet race track, the car finished a lap in two minutes and 10 seconds, while at 93 percent on a dry track, it was done in merely two minutes and a second. Audi hasn't revealed if it plans to develop models people can buy just yet, but says piloted driving is "one of [its] most important development fields."
Source: Audi (1), (2)

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ZBoard's back in your future with a hoverboard and high top bundle

ZBoard's back in your future with a hoverboard and high top bundle

Daniel Cooper

Engadget

Remember when we told you about HalloweenCostumes.com's officially-licensed light-up high tops from Back To The Future Part II? We joked that the kicks would have gone great with ZBoard's limited-edition Hoverboard that it produced for the Michael J. Fox foundation last year. Unfortunately, only 50 decks and 25 full boards were created for the auction, so it looks as if that (time-traveling) train has sailed. Well, until now, that is, since the company has now produced a general-sale run of its bright pink electric skateboard, and will even sell you the high tops in a single bundle. The board on its own will set you back $600, while a set with the futuristic kicks is priced at $700, plus one lucky competition winner will win a complete replica of Marty McFly's future outfit from the movie. Be warned, however, as you've only got 14 days to scrounge together the cash, or else you'll be outtatime (geddit?).
Source: ZBoard (StackSocial), Zboard Giveaway

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Samsung seeks boost from redesigned Note

Samsung seeks boost from redesigned Note

YOUKYUNG LEE, AP Technology Writer

SEOUL, South Korea — The latest version of Samsung's popular big-screen Galaxy Note has gone on sale at a crucial time for the South Korean company as it suffers a rapid decline in profit from its global smartphone business.

With the Note 4 launch in the U.S. last week, Samsung introduced one of the biggest design changes to the Note series since it started sales three years ago, ditching plastic in favor of metal for its frame.
The choice is not a result of a change in the company's design policy, but a product of what Samsung does well: identifying the consumer trend and improving upon it. Yet it's unclear if that's enough to stanch sliding sales as the holiday shopping period nears.

By the end of 2013, Samsung had sold at least 48 million Galaxy Notes. The company would not reveal more recent sales figures. Even though reviews for the Galaxy Note 4 have been favorable, analysts said its redesign may not be enough as Apple Inc. has entered the large-screen smartphone category with the iPhone 6 Plus.
"It will not be easy," said Lee Sei-chul, an analyst at Woori Investment & Securities. The Note 4 "is a nice product but response to the iPhone 6 Plus has been good. "

Samsung estimated earlier this month that its July-September quarterly profit shrank to 4.1 trillion won ($3.8 billion), a 60 percent plunge from record-high 10.2 trillion won a year earlier. Samsung is scheduled to disclose earnings for business divisions later this month and analysts believe profit from its mobile business plunged to about one third of its level a year earlier.

Samsung's first Note in 2011 is credited with making big-screen smartphones popular, especially in Asia, but the "phablet" market has become crowded with rival models since then. The Note 4 with its 5.7-inch screen faces competition not only from the new iPhone 6 series, but also from Chinese handset makers.

Samsung is also under pressure to make amends for design missteps in the Galaxy S5 smartphone that led to the departure of its design team chief.
Samsung designers and developers said the opinions of consumers and their demands drove the design changes from plastic to metal and guided the direction of the technology behind the S Pen, as the Note's stylus is known.

"Giving the values that consumers want is important. I don't think simply making smartphones beautiful is important," said Kim Nam-su, a senior designer at Samsung's mobile design team.
The Note 4's metal frame is coated in the same color as the rest of the phone's body, except for the polished, chamfered edge.

The painted frame gives a sense of unity but also prevents users from leaving fingerprint marks, one of the main complaints about the Note 3's glossy frame made of polycarbonate, a type of plastic. Though the Note 4 still uses plastic for the back cover, Samsung gave subtle, tactile patterns to imitate leather.

The Note 4's adoption of a metal frame is a first for Samsung's top-of-the-line smartphone and may foreshadow changes in its future flagship mobile devices. The Galaxy Alpha used metal a little earlier but its phone power falls short of the Note 4. Many other high-end smartphones such as iPhones have used metal for a few years.

Critics have long complained the plastic body of Samsung phones makes them look cheap for the price, which is higher than $600. Some reviewers compared the dimpled plastic back cover of the gold version of the Galaxy S5 to a band aid.
"Overall trends cannot be ignored," said Kim.
But he said Samsung's mobile team doesn't think design is so important that other aspects of the phone should be sacrificed.

Though some people have complained about the protruded camera in Samsung phones, Kim said a slight protrusion in the rear camera in the Note 4 shows that when the phone's performance is important, designers should help engineers to achieve their goal. The iPhone 6 also had its camera bulging from the back for the first time in the iPhone's history.

An engineer behind the S Pen stylus said his team's goal was to incorporate a natural note taking feature in the digital device and using the digital pen like a mouse in personal computers by clicking and dragging.

The Note 4's stylus, embedded in the bottom right corner, responds to the screen faster and to more subtle variations of hand pressure than its predecessor, allowing more natural writing experience.
Despite a learning curve that still exists for first time stylus users, Samsung is trying to boost the use of S Pen by improving the user interface.

"There is a great possibility that it would become a major inputting device" for large smartphones, said Lee Joohoon, principal engineer at Samsung's mobile team.

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China-backed hackers may have infiltrated Apple's iCloud: blog

China-backed hackers may have infiltrated Apple's iCloud: blog

Reuters

BOSTON/BEIJING - Apple Inc's iCloud storage and backup service in China was attacked by hackers trying to steal user credentials, a Chinese web monitoring group said, adding that it believes the country's government is behind the campaign.

Using a method called a "man-in-the-middle" (MITM) attack, unknown hackers interposed their own website between users and Apple's iCloud server, intercepting data and potentially gaining access to passwords, iMessages, photos and contacts, Greatfire.org wrote in its blog post.
Greatfire.org, a group that conducts research on Chinese Internet censorship, alleged government involvement in the attack, saying it resembled previous attacks on Google Inc, Yahoo Inc and Microsoft Corp's Hotmail.

Two independent security experts contacted by Reuters said Greatfire's report appeared credible.
"All the evidence I've seen would support that this is a real attack," said Mikko Hypponnen, chief research officer at security software developer F-Secure. "The Chinese government is directly attacking Chinese users of Apple's products."

The Chinese foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The attack comes several weeks after Apple said it would begin storing iCloud data for Chinese users on China Telecom servers. It also coincided with the start of iPhone 6 sales in China, which began Friday after weeks of talks between China and Apple over what the government said were cybersecurity concerns.

Greatfire.org said the attack most likely could not have been staged without the knowledge of Internet providers like China Telecom, given they appeared to originate from "deep within the Chinese domestic Internet backbone".
But the group said the attack may not be linked to Apple's recent decision to store user data on China Telecom servers.

"The previous MITM attacks all showed the same characteristics as this one," Greatfire.org co-founder Charlie Smith said by email. "Apple did not need to be doing anything with China Telecom for this attack to happen, i.e. the authorities did not need that relationship to stage an attack like this one."
It was unclear if the hackers were still active. Apple did not have an immediate comment when contacted.

A China Telecom spokesman said: "The accusation is untrue and unfounded.”
Apple said at the time the move to China Telecom was made to improve the speed of service for Chinese servers and flatly denied the possibility that it would expose user data.
The United States and Western companies have accused Chinese-backed hackers of infiltrating government and corporate websites and services. But Beijing has repeatedly denied its involvement in such attacks.

(Reporting by Jim Finkle in BOSTON and Gerry Shih and Ben Blanchard in BEIJING; Writing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Andre Grenon, Miral Fahmy and Stephen Coates)

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My Little Pony’ Movie in Development at Hasbro With ‘Ice Age’ Writer

My Little Pony’ Movie in Development at Hasbro With ‘Ice Age’ Writer

Jeff Sneider

TheWrap

Hasbro Studios has hired Joe Ballarini ("Ice Age: Continental Drift") to write a "My Little Pony" movie, TheWrap has learned.
Hasbro will produce the animated feature under its Allspark Pictures label, which allows the company to self-finance or co-finance projects. Allspark's first release will be "Jem and the Holograms," which was co-financed by Universal and co-produced by Blumhouse.

Megan McCarthy will co-executive produce the full-length feature, having written for Discovery Family's popular TV series "My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic." McCarthy was also involved in the "My Little Pony: Equestria Girls" movies, which received limited theatrical releases prior to their debuts on home video.

The "My Little Pony" franchise features a rich mythology built around characters that have colorful bodies and manes among other distinguishing attributes.
Hasbro currently plans to self-finance the development and production of the "My Little Pony" movie, which it is currently talking to distributors about releasing in 2017.

Hasbro plans to continue making action-heavy tentpoles aimed at young men, such as the "Transformers" and "G.I. Joe" movies at Paramount, and the company continues to develop board game adaptations "Monopoly" and "Candyland." Because all four of those films are big-budget projects, Hasbro has less say on the creative side, but it will have more control on the "My Little Pony" movie.

"My Little Pony" has garnered headlines of late due to its popularity with adult men who refer to themselves as "Bronies," which signals the brand's ability to transcend typical gender and age lines.
News of the "My Little Pony" movie was first reported by Variety.

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Taylor Swift’s New Song Is Finally Here!

Taylor Swift’s New Song Is Finally Here!

Taylor Swift has finally rewarded fans after days of teasing her new single by releasing “Welcome to New York!” The Big Apple gave Taylor some mega-catchy inspiration as the song is a mix of pop music swing and shoulder-bumping dance moves. Taylor has been dropping hints lately about her new song, leaving fans wondering what she had in store for them. All the teasing and hinting was totally worth the wait because this song is amazing!

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Taylor Swift Fires Back at Olly Mur's Big Diss

Our jaws dropped when we heard that Olly Murs dissed Taylor Swift's new song "Out of the Woods," claiming she writes too much about Harry Styles. Based on her reaction, she felt the same way! While appearing on the Australian radio station 2DAYFM, the singer slammed the critics who blast her for writing about her exes — and it sounds like she was talking directly to Olly.

"You're going to have people who say 'oh you know, she just writes songs about her ex boyfriends'," she said. "I think frankly that’s a very sexist angle to take. No one says that about Ed Sheeran. No one says it about Bruno Mars."

We totally agree! She should be allowed to write about whatever she wants to write about. And apparently, he felt really bad about the diss too, and even sent her a letter to apologize.

"I reached out to Taylor around two days ago. I gave her a letter and said, 'I'm really sorry...It came out wrong. I'm sorry I didn't mean to make any offense'," he told the Daily Mail.

The singer says he just wanted to defend his friend, but the joke came out harsher than it should have.

"It always came out that every article says Taylor writes songs and they always link it to Harry so I was just making a joke and defending my mate."

While it's cute that he cares so much about his friend, he didn't have to bring her down in the process! We're just glad that he apologized for his comments. The "Shake It Off" singer doesn't seem like the type to hold a grudge, so she's probably forgiven him now that he said he's sorry.

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Spotify finally has subscription sharing for an extra $5 per user

Spotify finally has subscription sharing for an extra $5 per user

Steve Dent

Engadget

Spotify has just addressed one of the main beefs with its service: the lack of ability to share a premium subscription. With Spotify Family, you can now share your $9.99 plan with up to four other folks for an extra $5 per. That means the price starts at $14.99 for you and one friend, going up to $29.99 with five people altogether, for a savings of $5 to $20. They won't be stuck with your musical taste, either, as each member will get their own account with separate playlists, recommendations and more. That makes Spotify's premium service pretty tempting, and don't worry if your family or friends aren't music lovers -- that never stopped Sprint's Framily subscribers.
Source: Spotify

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How Justin Bieber Could Spoil Instagram’s Plan to Introduce Ads

How Justin Bieber Could Spoil Instagram’s Plan to Introduce Ads

Marcus Wohlsen

Wired

It finally happened: Snapchat will now have ads. Pinterest is also experimenting with advertising, as is Instagram. All three of these companies are in the enviable position of running wildly popular online platforms, but also in the less enviable position of not having a great, obvious way to make money off of them. Ads seem like the most direct plan, but there’s a problem, a problem summed up by one man.
His name is Justin Bieber.

If you have an internet connection, chances are you know who Justin Bieber is. He was discovered on YouTube. His 55.7 million followers make him the second-most followed person on Twitter, ahead of the President of the United States. The internet is his medium, and he is its master.

That mastery was on full display earlier this month in the form of a poorly shot video selfie of Bieber walking through a plaza in Italy. Here’s how Adweek describes the compelling footage: “To commemorate the event on Instagram, he shoots a quick social video where he utters ‘fettuccine Alfredo’ in his best fake Italiano and then asks his bodyguard whether he wants to get some. (The helpful hulk, in case you are wondering, answered his boss with a ‘yes.’)”

Italy was pretty awesome, could find me in your city next – #imatourist #nowork #sightseeing #fettucciniAlfredo #imthatguywithafannypack #ifuseemeletmeenjoymyvisit #illbebackfortouripromise


During the second week of October, the video received nearly 735,000 likes and almost 50,000 comments, according to Adweek ‘s weekly survey of Instagram activity. The number is impressive in itself. But what’s potentially worrisome for Instagram’s ad ambitions is just how thoroughly the size of Bieber’s engaged audience crushes that of other, more traditional brands—that is, potential advertisers.

The most popular Instagram video in the consumer electronics category, for example, was a GoPro scene of two guys on an amusement park ride that was “liked” 134,000 times. BMW topped the car category with almost 44,000 likes for one video, and Urban Outfitters the retail category with more than 50,000 likes. Not bad, but nothing like the Biebs.

The paradox for the latest online platforms is that, while their popularity is driven by user-generated content like Bieber’s, that content totally eclipses anything an advertiser is likely to offer, especially since users are already accustomed to no ads. An ad in your Instagram feed, if it doesn’t outright annoy you, is easy to ignore if Justin Bieber in Italy is a thumb-swipe away. Or the catnip of your friend’s next selfie Snap. How can any ad compete for those precious microseconds of your attention?

Pinterest is in the best position to capitalize on ads, since it’s so well designed as a place to browse for stuff you want to buy. But as with Instagram, brands don’t have to advertise to get on the thing. You can simply act as users with their own accounts and promote their stuff for free. Of course, advertisers will probably keep trying, and at least for a while keep paying these companies in hope of connecting with all the attention the Biebers of the world help them to capture. Maybe paid ads will help push traditional brands’ feeds in front of more users, causing their popularity to surge. But only seeing is Beliebing.

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Demi Lovato Shows Off Vibrant New Pink Hair Extensions

Demi Lovato just found a whole new way to kick up her rainbow-colored hairstyle without the committment of permanent dye! She added some super bright pink hair extensions from her brand new Secret Color line, and we love how perfectly the shade blends with her edgy blue-streaked cut!

We never realized you could use Demi's hair extensions brand to add color to your 'do without necessarily adding length, but it's such a clever way to (temporarily!) go pink!

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